Board of Zoning Appeals - Regular Meeting

Now the chair would uh entertain a motion for nomination for vice president. Mr. President, I'd like to nominate Thomas Casmir. Hope I didn't close enough as a vice president for the Hammond Plan Commission for 2026. Thank you, Mr. Tai. Is there any other nominations for vice president for the Hammond Plan Commission? Hearing none, nominations are closed. Uh the chair would ask for a roll call vote uh for the presentation the slate of officers. Roger. Yes. Michael D. Yes. S. Yes. Michael Pinker. Yes. Thomas. Yes. Yes. Thomas. Taylor. Yes. Dean Button.

Yes. Nine eyes. Zero nays. Motion pass. Congratulations Mr. Casemirzac. Uh the next item is to make an appointment uh of the Hammond Plan Commission member to the BZA for the current year 2026. Uh the chair would entertain uh nominations at this time. Mr. President, I'd like to nominate uh Thomas Kazmirac for appointment to the BZA from the Hammond Plan Commission for 2026.

Any other nominations for uh BZA member to from the plan commission? Any other nominations? Hearing none, nominations are closed. Uh, chair would request a roll call vote for Mr. Casmirzac as plan commission member to the BCA for 2026. Roger Bry, yes. Michael D, yes. Ronald Sims, yes. Michael Pinker, yes. Thomas Casmir, yes. Dan Fatality, yes. Thomas Dverton, yes. Marcus Taylor, yes. Bean Button, yes. Nine eyes, zero nays. Motion pass.

Congratulations again, Mr. Kasmir's act. Item four is approval of the meeting minutes for December 15, 2025. You should have received a copy of the meeting minutes uh in your packet. Chair would entertain a motion to approve. Um Mr. President, uh motion to approve the minutes. Mr. Kez Mirzac. Is there a sec? A second from Mr. Opinker. Uh it's been moved and properly seconded to approve the minutes uh for December 15, 2025. Is there any discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? Roll call on the motion. Roger. Yes. Michael D. Yes. Ronald Sims. Yes. Michael Pinker. Yes. Thomas Casmir. Yes. Dan Patali. Dance. Yes. Thomas Dton. Yes. Marcus Taylor. Yes. Button.

Yes. Nine eyes. Zero nays. Motion pass. Thank you. Item five is old business. Any old business? There's no old business. Thank you. Item six is new business. Before we get into the agenda, the the chair would request a motion to amend the uh order of new business. And uh I'd like to start uh new business with CP 2603. Uh is there a motion such a motion? I'd like to make that motion, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. Dy. Second.

Seconded by Mr. Kazmir Zack. Thank you very much. It's been moved and properly seconded to change the order of new business to uh start with 2603. Is there any discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? Roll call on the motion. Dr. Yes. Michael Dy. Yes. Ronald Sim. Yes. Michael Pinker. Yes. Thomas Casmac. Yes. Dance. Yes. Thomas Dton. Yes. Marcus Taylor. Yes. Dean Button. Yes. Nine eyes. Zero nays. Motion pass.

Thank you. This was at the convenience for the developer because we can get their work done and then move out of the way and move on to the zoning uh changes. Sorry, sorry, the declaratory resolution action items. So, we're starting with new business CP26-03, a petition of Davies Imperial Codings, Inc. to reclassify the property at 1175 State Street, 1146 through 11 Willow Court and 1149 through 11 State Street from R-1U urban single family residential district to I1 light manufacturing district in within the city of Hammond, Lake County, Indiana within the city within the city of Lake uh city of Hammond, Lake County, Indiana. Uh the chair would ask uh Mrs. Morris Smith if the notification requirements have been met.

Yes. Thank you very much. Uh if the petitioner could come forward and uh present the petition to reclassify the property. If you could sign in. Yes. Uh with your name and address. Uh state your name for the record and uh offer your presentation. Good evening, Mr. Fino. Please. Good evening.

Thank you. My name is Jack Fino with 219 Development Services. We're located at 7135 Indianapolis Boulevard in Hammond, Indiana. Uh I would like to first start by saying thank you very much for to the uh commissioners for their time this evening. Uh I would also like to acknowledge uh the department of planning and development. Uh Brian, Tom, and Shannon have been wonderful to work with through this process. So thank you very much. Uh the Davies Imperial uh project uh is for Davies Imperial Codings who's located on State Street currently. They're a multi-generational company who's been in the city of Hammond for decades. They're looking to grow and expand and start a new uh thermoplastics manufacturing company. So as opposed to their present operation which is wet road paint markings for striping, they will now be doing a dry clean process with dust collection and uh will be a new thermoplastics plant. So thermoplastics road marking tapes through preform and also uh thermoplastic material prepackaged to be applied in the field. So think about uh road markings such as turn signals, uh railroad crossings, all the striping on the street. So this is all thermoplastics and the city of Hammond actually currently uses this product already. Um with that the site that we will be developing at 1175 State Street and the adjacent properties, there are three parcels. We are working through the subdivision replat currently. Uh I talked to Brian about that briefly today and we are working through that process. that way we don't have to say so many addresses when we talk about this one. Um, but with that, this is a underutilized property that for decades has been, you know, full of illicit activities that our our seller George who's here currently has had deal with and he's been trying to stop, you know, people fly dumping. It's just been an eyesore for the community and we're looking to clean this up, redevelop it

with a beautiful 50,000 square foot uh pre-cast manufacturing plant. This will also allow for a great buffer between the present railroad uh to our residential neighbors across the street. So, this will reduce the noise, the light, the sound. And we've also approached all of our residential neighbors already. We've discussed the project with them. We have great support and buyin. And actually, uniquely enough, a few of them have asked to submit resumes and they actually want one of the 24 initial jobs that will be coming to our community in in this project that will eventually grow to 40 great quality and accessible jobs for our community. Um, just a quick update on where we are. This is a $15 million groundup development. Um, this will bring, like I said, 25 initial jobs, growing to 40 plus. We've already worked through all of our on-site due diligence. We have a clean phase two on the site. Our geotechnical complete. We're well underway. We've got about 50% uh complete design development. We've also started working through our civil design. We are meeting with city engineers tomorrow as well to continue with that and figure out our tie-ins and uh continue with civil design uh to complete that. Um this all basically comes down to we will need a zoning change from R1U to I1 with the restrictive use covenant which we have worked with through uh Brian Poland. Uh that's just for the uh the pre-manufactured materials will be that will be utilized in the process of make making the thermoplastics. So with that I would be happy to answer any questions that anyone may have.

Questions from the commissioners to the petitioner. Any questions? So, I know we're working together with uh there there's a request to change the roadway configuration on state. Yes. Uh around nearby the building. Right. Currently, it's a oneway uh westbound. We need to reconfigure that. The city's hired a consultant to do a traffic study. Yes, sir. For that uh process. So, we're working together very closely on this. Yes.

Yep. And with that, uh, it's also very important to the the surrounding neighbors, uh, working with Councilman Al Selenus to basically limit the amount of truck traffic, uh, just to shed some light on that going through the residential neighborhoods. So, we're trying to get the trucks to go back out eastbound to Indianapolis Boulevard to to mitigate that. Yeah, point point well taken, right? You're just trying to keep people from passing through the n the residential area. Yes, sir. Correct. Thank you very much. Thank you. Uh if there's uh no other questions, uh I need to open it up to a public hearing. Sure. Um so if you give us a few minutes, we'll hopefully take public comment and then call you back up. Great. Thank you very much.

Thanks, Jack. Appreciate it. Uh so at this time, uh I would open it up uh to a public hearing. Uh if anyone would uh like to speak in favor of this development, now is your opportunity. If there's anyone in opposition to this development, uh, now is also your chance to speak. Anyone wishing to place a comment on this, sir? Yes,

you can come forward. If you'd please sign in and uh and put your address down, if you could state your name and uh make your comment. Okay. Yeah. You know, I got a a thing in the mail that I had signed for a registered letter. Sir, sir, you need to state your name and Oh, my name is Charles Pazdash. I'm a resident here in Hammond. I live at 1144 Indiana Street for 20 years. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. I got a notice to owners of affected property and I noticed that it says it doesn't have the address of the property next door to me, but I got a feeling that's about it's about that. It's it's a it's a Well, anyway, it says you are listed as owner of the property at 1144 Indiana Street, Hammond, Indiana, which is 300 feet of the prop with of the property that is subject to this pending action. The pending action does not have a direct effect on your property. I'm I was I'm wondering are they planning on building a factory next door to my house? No, sir. This is on State Street. Okay. Why would I get this though? I'm not You're with you're within 300 ft of the development.

So if they if they if they took the development itself and and and made a ring around it 300 ft away, your h your home was within that 300 ft. Okay. So they're just notifying you that this development is occurring nearby. It's not next door. It's uh it's 1175 State Street, which is basically Colombia just uh west of Columbia Avenue. That's really all I need to know. I'm I'm not being affected by it. So, that's all I need to know. I just had to come here and make sure, you know. I'm glad you did. Thank you very much. Thank you, sir.

Um anyone uh else wishing to make a comment on the uh petition? online. I'm getting to that. Anyone online uh through virtual sources uh that would like to make a comment or remmonstrate on this petition? Okay. Seeing no additional comment, I'll close the public hearing. Uh I assume Jack, you have nothing further to present to the board at this time. No, sir. Thank you. Okay. Uh, next would be to turn it over to staff for their staff review on the petition. Mr. Poland.

Okay. Um, as stated in your information, the property is zoned R1U residential and the reasonzoning is to I1 light industrial district for the uh purpose of the uh thermoplastic plant um to be located there. We're still reviewing um the civil draw, you know, start getting into silo drawings and and reviewing all the technical stuff. Uh we um preliminary have an idea that uh at least one thing will go to the border zoning appeals, but uh we're still waiting for the the full reviewed in order to have an under complete understanding as to what has to go to the border zoning appeals. A lot of um things have been discussed about the project and and the greatest concern, one of the greatest concerns of the staff is uh making sure that there is uh proper buffers um between uh industrial zoning and residential zoning. Um, we do recognize that the railroad tracks are immediately north of this property and uh perhaps this building in and of itself could help act as a buffer of the railroad tracks from the residential neighborhood. There's some um alleys that were and a former street that um um were vacated um many years ago. The alleys were vacated in 1925. Um, but there is still an outstanding question as whether or not the utility easements were properly released and and that is something that was discussed with the petitioner this afternoon. Um, the the president of the plan commission, the city engineer has mentioned the traffic study that is ongoing and to determine how we can control uh and reconfigure the lanes uh to keep the truck traffic to um out of the neighborhood. One of the important things that was referenced by the petitioner and um is

worthy of of clarification for the planning commission members is that um we have worked through a use restriction and covenant document. Um, this is something that, um, hasn't really been done very commonly through the plan commission, but, um, when you think about reszoning, um, you technically when you resone a property to a new classification, that means every permitted use that is allowed under the zoning ordinance can occur at that property just as a matter of right. And um due to the location of this property, which is in essence in the middle of a residential neighborhood, um we were concerned that some of those uses may not be appropriate uh to be located in an industrial or in a residential neighborhood. So attached to the staff report, you should have a copy or in your packet, I'm sorry, you should have a copy of the uh use restriction and covenant document. And just to talk about that briefly, um besides all the technicalities of legal descriptions and addresses and things like that, the important thing to look at is um starting on page three where we start talking about the intended uses um and then the commitments of the permitted uses and what is listed here under page four um letters A through Q, um are the items in the I1 zoning classification that are permitted to go on this property. What is missing is probably about six or seven of of the ones that we we felt were were in not appropriate um to be located next to a residential neighborhood. Um some of the let's shall we say obnoxious uses that would uh be a

detriment to the neighborhood. Um we are still allowing uh conditional uses as what the current language under the section or item number two here. Um that was would always be controlled by the board of zoning appeals. And then at the top of page five and number three, it was a discussion um about um the use of chemicals or certain chemicals that in the process as to the appropri appropriateness of them. One of the challenging things was the terminology that was um I used by by the petitioner by Davies Imperial. they use the term raw materials and that term raw materials is um by itself if you just look at that term um that is actually a an I2 use not something that is uh permitted in an I1 through discussions with petitioner we we started looking at what um while it may meet the technical definition of raw material these are actually prepared processed secondary u materials and So what we've identified in here um that those specified things can be used on this property would not trigger the I2 component of it. Um if any other chemical is um added in the process, it would still be subject to review and approval by HEAM as well as um any of the other state local lo local state federal permits that are required for any chemicals within the city of Hammond as well as making sure that the any discharge is proper that goes into the His uh the sanitary district, the plan commission and the border zoning. appeals um basically are the

enforcement arms of this. Um also we've added HEM as one of the enforcement arms of it. So what the intent is is that assuming the plan commission um is going to send this uh to the council with a favorable recommendation, you would also include the use and covenant use restrictions and covenant document and that becomes part of the record u for the council to act on. Any questions on that part?

If you don't mind, Mr. Poland, I see the in the uh the document was prepared by uh the commission's attorney. U but the commission has no action to take on this uh document. Is that correct? No, you have a right to look at it and question it and see if it's appropriate and decide um uh per the staff's recommendation to to set it with the resoning. What I'm what I'm asking is there's no action uh for us to accept, right? This this is uh an offering by the developer to the city where we don't counter sign. No, this is actually something we prepared.

I'm sorry. It's something that the attorney and the staff have prepared and we have sent it to the developer and we received no objections from the developer and I think Mr. Westland wants to uh respond to that. If Mr. Button's question is is there independent action on that document then the answer is no.

Yes. Thank But once we get once we get to the staff recommendation, it's going to be to approve and send a favorable recommendation to the city council for the re favorable recommendation for the resoning to the city council uh conditioned upon uh the approval of this restrictive covenant. So um is there's no independent action, Mr. Button, but there is if you want to tweak or there's something you want added to the document, now would be your time to weigh in on that. So, if if you're if the commission is good with the use restriction and covenant as is, then you would just send the favorable recommendation on the condition that that covenant be approved.

And and that was Thank you. That answers my question.

And and that's what I was trying to say is that you have a right to comment, change, and alter the document. Yeah, I understood that. I just it's not an action that we need to take to approve this. We can make comments to you and if the developer accepts it, he would be the one to execute it. Thank you. That's all I have. Mr. Poland, you can continue. Okay. Assuming that there's uh no corrections or suggestions to the use and covenants document and the staff recommendation is um first of all I'm going to say that there are outstanding items for the uh staff's action on the development plan was the technical review uh by HDM city engineering water fire department and sanitary district the completion of the traffic study and compliance with its recommendations and the release of any utility eert rights and the vacated rights away. Subsequence to the approval to by the council, the outstandings are uh the determination approval of the BCA actions uh and the signature and recording of the use and restrictions covenant document. Staff recommends that the plan commission forward the petition to reszone with the use restrictions and covenant document to the city council with a favorable recommendation. If the plan commission agrees with the recommendation, the staff request that this report is adopted by the plan commission as preliminary finance effect.

Thank you, Mr. Poland. Questions from the commissioners to Mr. Poland? I don't. Okay. Thank you very much, Brian. I appreciate you bearing with me on my question earlier. Um, so if there's nothing further, the chair would entertain a motion to forward the petition to reszone with the use restriction and co covenant document uh to the city council with a favorable recommendation. I'll make that motion.

Thank you, Mr. Opinker. Seconded by Mr. Dai. It's been moved and properly seconded to forward this petition to the city council along with the use restriction and covenant document. Is there any discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? Roll call on the motion. Roger. Yes. Michael D. Yes. Ronald Sim. Yes. Michael Pinker. Yes. Thomas Casmier. Yes. Natali. Yes. Thomas Dton. Yes. Marcus Taylor. Yes. Dean Button. Yes. Nine eyes. Zero nays. Zero extensions. Motion pass.

Thank you. Um and uh the chair would uh ask the uh for a motion to accept the report as a preliminary finding of fact. Motion to approve. Second. Second. Moved by uh uh Commissioner Dy, seconded by Commissioner Opinker. Uh is there any discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? Roll call on the motion. Roger. Yes. Michael D. Yes. Ronald Sims. Yes. Michael Pinker. Yes. Thomas Casmir. Yes. Yes. Thomas Marcus Taylor. Yes. Dean Button. Yes. Nine eyes, zero nays, two abstensions. Motion pass. Thank you. Congratulations, Mr. Fino.

Look forward to meeting with you more on this project.

Okay, back uh to the original batting order. uh CP26-01, a petition of the Hammond Plan Commission to review the amending declaratory resolution 2025-18 of the Hammond Redevelopment Commission regarding amending the declaratory resolutions that designated the North Hammond Development Area and approved the North Hammond Redevelopment Plan for the North Hammond Development Area to modify said development area boundaries and said redevelopment plan to expand said North Hammond development velment area to amend the redevelopment plan for set expansion and to designate a a certain area of the North Hammond development plan as an expansion of the West Point allocation area for the purposes of utilizing tax increment financing to implement the redevelopment plan as amended. Uh chair would ask uh Mrs. Morris Smith if the notification requirements of the petition have been met.

Yes, they have. Thank you kindly. Uh, I assume Mr. Poland, you're going to be acting as petitioner and staff. Yes, sir. Thank you. I think we we talked about that earlier. So, I would ask commissioners if there is any objection to Mr. Poland uh acting as both a petitioner and staff. Any objections? Seeing none, Mr. Poland, please proceed as petitioner.

Okay. Um, this is the second step in a four-step process that the redevelopment commission has in order to amend, expand, create any type of redevelopment area, as well as an allocation area, which is also known as a tiff district. um without bogging you down in all sorts of crazy history, but the evolution of the North Hammond Redevelopment Area coupled with the Marina Rio redevelopment area has been one of the most convoluted experiences I've had here um because of names changes, inconsistencies in language. And so this has really um led to some interesting things when I started to really write this um report or the presentation. So the North Hammond redevelopment area is an in essence is the currently substantially the non-residential areas of North Hammond south of 129th Street. Uh there were amendments that was made in you know 10 years ago where the Sheffield Estates trailer park were added into this. Uh there was an amendment that's referenced to here for property at the northwest corner of 141st Street and Avenue that was added as a as a amendment amended area. uh the West Point which is the um 141st Street by Columbia by Gland by White Oak or or the city limits that's an allocation area currently. So what the expansion area is is if you

focus in at Columbia and 141st Street and you go westward towards Caliban Avenue following the street in essence and then you know the toll road offramp comes in there. You got Unifer sitting there. You've got the uh self storage jumping across the street just south of the the toll road ramps. You got the hotels all the way going down to uh the Mohawks. Uh right, excuse me, not Mohawks, just north of Mohawks. That little area right there that I just talked about between the toll road changes or interchanges was already in the North Hammond redevelopment area, but it's now being added into the West Point allocation area. The new area goes farther south down on uh Cali Avenue, picking up the KFC, the bowling alley, the hotels, continuing down past the two tracks down to the southern track, which is I think CSX,

CSX, BNO, whatever it was, is following that eastward along the tracks to the toll road itself. And then um it kind of arcs up along the toll road to pick up Gland and then jocks jogs back down to exclude some of the residential area. So the residential properties is minimized in this area. There may be a few odd ones here and there, but it is one of the most important things is that there is a very large undeveloped piece of property just south of the um Jell's dynasty. That is what uh we have great opportunity to develop. Therefore, that's why it wants to be put in the redevelopment area as well as to be put in the allocation area for tiff purposes. Convoluted. Hopes it makes sense. So, um I'm trying to think of what's which hat I'm wearing before I say something else. But anyway, so this is coming from the redevelopment commission. Um and we are here the the petition is to um take action as to whether or not the redevelopment plan complies with the comprehensive plan. So I crossed into staff questions from the commissioners to Mr. Poland. Okay. Uh at this point we open up the public hearing. Is there anyone uh wishing to speak in favor of this petition? Anyone wishing to speak in opposition to this petition? Anyone to make a comment on this petition? Anyone online wishing to make a comment on this petition? Seeing no one, I will close the public hearing portion of this meeting and I will turn it over to Mr. Poland for uh

presentation as staff.

Okay. Um in the staff report um starting at the staff recommendation um and I will be making one alteration or one amendment here uh staff recommends that the plan commission um do these four things. One, make a determination that amending declaratory resolution 2025-18 is in conformity with the 19922 comprehensive plan as amended by the 2003 North Hammond neighborhood plan. correcting the word re redevelopment to a neighborhood. Two, adopt this report as its findings of fact. Three, adopt plan commission resolution 2026-01. and four determine that this report as it f and determine that this report as its findings of facts fact and PC resolution 2026-01 both constitute the plan commission's written order for compliance with the official plans of the city of Hammond in accordance with IC 367-14-16A.

So I'd like a motion on that first. Like to make a motion to approve. Second. Okay. Uh it's been moved and properly seconded uh to uh to make the motion on the four items as presented by Mr. Poland. Is there any any discussion? Yeah. And as amended. As amended. Is there any discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? Roll call on the motion. Roger. Yes. Michael D. Yes. Rhino S. Yes. Michael Baker. Yes. Yes. Fatali. Yes. Thomas Dton. Yes. Marcus Taylor. Yes. Button. Yes.

Nine eyes. Zero nays. Zero extensions. Motion. Thank you. Okay. And a second motion that the staff recommends that the plan commission uh forward the plan commission's written order and the proposed council resolution to the common council with a favorable recommendation. Motion to approve. Second. Moved by m uh Mr. Commissioner Dye, seconded by Councilman Spatali. Is there any discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? Roll call on the motion. Roger. Yes. Michael, yes. Sam, yes. Michael Pinker, yes. Thomas, yes. Dance, yes. Thomas, yes. Marcus Taylor, yes. Dean Button, yes.

Nine eyes, zero nays, zero extensions. Motion pass.

Thank you everyone. Next item on the agenda is CP26-02, petition of the Hammond Plan Commission to a review residential housing development program declaratory resolution 25-9 of the Hammond Redevelopment Commission regarding designating said area as an allocation area and designating the area for the purpose of tax increment financing to develop a residential housing development program. more specifically the Jacob Square residential housing development plan. All pursuant to Indiana code 36-7-14 and Indiana code 36-7-25 and the Indiana Administrative Code 50-IA-8. Chair would ask if uh the notification requirements for this petition have been met.

Yes, they have.

Thank you kindly. I uh I guess I'll ask again. Does the um commissioners have any problem with Mr. Poland acting as petitioner and staff for this petition? No objections. Mr. Poland. Again, this is the second step of the four-step process in order to uh for the redevelopment commission to create, amend, modify redevelopment areas. The history of this is that uh Jacob Square was created in uh 2006. And within that uh the plan for the redevelopment area um it was tied to a housing program that uh a previous director of the United Neighbors Hoods Inc. um was trying to implement and uh unfortunately that project never really got off the ground. And so since then we the city redevelopment commission in the last couple years have been looking at um uh methods and means to uh try and help kickstart and improve the um neighborhood for Jacob Square. Trying to see if we can get housing started back in that neighborhood. Uh in this last two years, the staff has conducted um an analysis of the vacant lots that are owned by the redevelopment commission or by the civil city. We've determined which properties are meet the minimum lot size requirements and are buildable or uh that perhaps maybe the vacant lots should be sold to an adjacent lot as to um for them to expand

their yard. With that analysis, what there is a statutory change that we are looking at which allows for the creation of a tiff program for residential properties. That's typically not something that's been allowed under the statute, but this is a new program where we can start to capture the increment. Uh the increment can be used for infrastructure improvements. um you know just because you know you know there's always we're always looking for money to build you know fix a street and things like that. Um, so this process had to create a housing plan and that's uh referenced in the document and and our analysis of each of the the vacant lots is in that document and that um it also creates this tiff allocation uh provision. So, Jacob Square is um and hopefully I can remember these boundaries exactly. Um Soul Avenue on the west, Fyet Street on the north. Uh I believe it's Carol Street on the south, and um not not Cali Avenue, but the the the alley west of Calman Avenue on the east for for everything north of Thornton. And then um Bee Street uh right away south of Thornon. So it's excluding the commercial properties on Caliban Avenue. This is specifically for the residential properties. Um this is the same exact boundaries as it was for 2006. We use those same boundaries. Um but this is an opportunity, as I said, to um bring new

life into the neighborhood. Um, kind of sort of related to this, um, those of you that have looked at our the redevelopment commission's website, there is a website for citywide properties that are owned by the redevelopment commission that um, we're notifying that this makes available to the public for them to uh, investigate what lots we have in ownership and uh, make inquiries on them as to which they wish to purchase them. Um we've had um several projects or properties uh have been sold and um it I believe just based on an announcement today um there's a property on Condid Street where the house has just been completed and is will soon be on the market officially. Um so we are starting to get a success um in this program of opening up our properties for sale for new houses. It's just that this particular program is focused on the Jacob Square neighborhood. That's all I have for now. Named her after our esteemed colleague Jake Jacobs. Yes, I believe that is correct and um he should be very happy that we are trying to help his neighborhood

for sure. Questions from the commissioners to Mr. Poland as petitioner. What's the lot slate? I heard we some of might be a bit long in front to the back. What? What are they? I'm sorry. Say that again. A lot size that you have to have for a house. What size are they? Okay. Correct. 12 minute.

Under the R1U zoning, the minimum lot sizes are 40 feet by 120 ft or 4,800 square ft. Um many of the platted lots in this neighborhood um are at a depth of 108, 103, 110 ft. So there are some challenges in um uh making these lots uh buildable. Um, we did go through a process on Seoul Avenue, um, some properties that are just right across from the post office that we went through a process to, um, reconfigure the lots. Um, mo several of them, I think I think most there's four lots there. I think they are like 44 feet wide. Um, because the depth of the lot is 108 or 110. Um, and that way we were, even though it's larger than what the minimum requirement, we needed that because the depth of the lot was shallower. So, we got the 4,800 square ft. So, those are now considered to be buildable lots.

What do you go to as far as you will go? 43 to go a little had that before quite a few years ago.

Yeah, it's it it's going to depend. I mean, you know, we we we face this issue throughout all parts of the city. The board of zoning appeals is dealing with a lot of variances um for these lots that are um less than 40 ft and 12 feet long. Um a lot of it depends upon what is the character of the neighborhood. We have found um in many parts of our neighborhood that um actually I think there was a a BCA case we're dealing with right now. The lots were actually platted at 37 feet wide. 37.

Yeah. And so we are looking at those on a casebycase basis as to whether or not it is consistent with what's in the neighborhood, but it has to go to the board of zoning appeals for approval. So, we are not we have not changed our minimum lot size requirements in the zoning ordinance. We just handle it as a case-byase border zoning appeals variance. And that went through okay on 37.

Not in all not in all parts of the city. So, don't don't don't mis don't mistake that that statement. I said in this example that neighborhood was 37 feet wide. We have such a variety of sizes of lots in this city. You know, in most of the older parts of the city, you have 25 foot lots. We we've already declared that we will not allow the building on a 25- foot lot. You have, we have, you know, I'm just going to say Harrison Park in general, it was platted mostly as 25 foot lots, but a lot of houses are built on one and a half lots, which is technically 37 1/2 ft wide. Um, so it really depends upon um whether or not a variance will be granted based on the specific circumstances of what's on the block or what's in the neighborhood.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. Uh, Councilman Spatali, any other questions for Mr. Poland as petitioner? Hearing none. Uh, thank you. At this time, we'll open the meeting up to a public hearing. Is there anyone in the audience wishing to uh make a comment on this petition? Anyone wishing to make a comment? Anyone wishing to make a comment? Anyone online wishing to make a comment? Last call. Public hearing is now closed. Uh Mr. Poland, back to you as staff. Staff recommends that the planning commission adopt the first motion and there's four steps. One, make a determination that the Jacob Square residential housing development program is in conformity with the 1992 comprehensive land use plan. Two, adopt this report at its finding effect. Three, adopt plan commission resolution 2026-02. And four, determine that this that both this report as its findings effect and plan commission resolution 2020 2026-2 constitute the plan commission's written order for compliance with the official plans of the city of Hammond in accordance with IC 36-7-14-16A.

Mr. President, I like to make a motion to approve. Thank you, Mr. Dye. Is there a second? I'll second. Seconded by Councilman Patali. has been moved and properly seconded for the stated uh motion. Is there any discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? Roll call on the motion. Roger. Yes. Michael Dy, yes. Sam, yes. Michael Opinker, yes. Thomas Casmier, yes. Natali, yes. Thomas Dton, yes. Marcus Taylor, yes. Dean Button, yes. Nine eyes, zero nays, zero extensions. Motion pass. Thank you. Mr. Poland.

Uh, the further recommendation is that the plan commission adopt a second motion to forward the plan commission's written order and the proposed council resolution to the common council with a favorable recommendation. So moved. So moved. I'm going to take that as a second. Uh, Mr. Dabberton. So uh, Commissioner Kazmir made a motion. Mr. Dabin Dabberton is a second. Uh, is there any discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? Roll call on the motion. Roger. Yes. Michael D. Yes. Ronald Sim. Yes. Michael Pinker. Yes. Thomas Casmir. Yes. Fatali. Yes. Thomas Dton. Yes. Marcus Taylor. Yes. Dean Button.

Yes. Nine eyes, zero nays, zero abstensions. Motion pass. Thank you. Okay, moving on. Item seven is correspondence. No correspondence. Thank you. Item eight is commissioner's comments. Any comments from you wonderful people? Okay. I'm going to just wish you all a happy new year. Item nine is uh staff comments. Yeah. Um actually uh a question for um Mr. Button. Have you has the uh South Hammond um plan? The the meeting neighborhood plan. Yeah. Neighborhood plan. Has that meeting been scheduled yet?

No, it has not. Okay. So just for the benefit um working with between city engineering and city planning um we're doing a study on the south hammond area basically focusing around the south the southshore station um and um looking at the traffic concerns but also looking at some of the land use issues and um you know have a document serve you know at least two purposes and ultimately be um an amendment to the comprehensive of plan and uh that is something that would come before the plan commission and the city council for adoption in in that for that process. Um and we want to keep you informed about these meetings. Um and you know it's a they're public meetings and you know plan commission members can attend just as as much as any of the the residents of of of the affected area. Um, so we'll keep you informed by email once we get that meeting scheduled.

Thanks, Mr. Polland. I'm glad you brought that up. This is this is an opportunity for you to hear about the plan because it's going to come to us and we'll we'll be we'll be considering accepting that as a amendment to the uh comprehensive plan as a modification for that particular neighborhood. So, it would be great if you could attend. I will make sure that you're aware of the meeting place and time and date. Any other staff comments? Um, I'm not sure if we're going to have a meeting in February, but we'll let you know as soon as we're as soon as it's confirmed.

Thank you. Item 10 is public comment. Anyone in the audience wishing to speak? Hearing none, chair would entertain a motion to adjurnn. Motion to adjurnn. Second. All moved. Moved by Commissioner Dy, seconded by Commissioner Casmirzac. Uh, all in favor signify by saying I.